To babysit a firebending toddler
by Tristana
Summary: Mai has to baby sit her little brother… Boring and tiring task. Until Zuko shows up to help with this. Crackfic. Beware of the devil in pampers! CHALLENGE of Blufle.


Here is Blufle's challenge:

Here's a challenge fic for anyone out there who is good at writing humor (I know I'm not). It's slightly AU because of the storyline, but here is the outline:

-Mai's parents are going out for the day and need a babysitter. Mai, however, is not feeling well and cannot babysit Tom-Tom all by herself. She'll need some help.

-Mai's parents ask Zuko to help her with the babysitting, and he goes over to help (whether of his own consent for he was perhaps forced... you can decide).

-Mai and Zuko have a much harder time keeping up with a mischievous baby like Tom-Tom than they thought, and admittedly, neither of them enjoy young children or enjoy taking care of them.

-Can be Maiko if you want it to end up that way. It's not required, though it might be kind of hard NOT to make it Maiko.

Let me know when you start! I realize this would be hard to make a multi-chapter fic. Oneshots are fine, and actually perferred, for this challenge.

Title: To baby-sit a firebending toddler

Author: Tristana

Disclaimer: Avatar's plot: not mine. Avatar's characters: not mine. The idea of this fic: Not mine (see, it's a challenge). The fic and grammar mistakes: Mine. (It's not fait, I only own the 'bad' parts...)

**Of the difficulty to baby-sit a firebending toddler**

Mai was resting, relishing on the calm her room provides. No annoying little brother no Azulas with weird capture plans no 'holidays' project. All in all, it was a plain, calm evening.

If it wasn't for her mother showing up… Not that she didn't like her parents. It was just that, when one came up, it meant end of peaceful brooding.

"Mai?"

"What is it?"

"Your father and I shall be absent tomorrow and we won't be able to take Tom-Tom with us, would you mind looking after him?"

She was right. She was ALWAYS right.

"Surely you can find another way? I'm not feeling that well… Can't you ask someone else?"

"And who can we ask?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I'll see what can we do. Rest, you look exhausted."

As a matter of fact, she WAS tired. How can life be THAT boring? She could only hope that it won't be Ty Lee or Azula who would come over. Ty Lee was just too lively for her to handle. And she didn't need another child to baby sit!

_The next day_

Mai woke up at dawn, as she always does. Even if she never knew why… It will be another boring day, so why bother getting up early?

Oh, yes, and her parents would leave baby sitting Tom-Tom… She went down, muttering dreadful curses to those who invented these reunions where children were not allowed.

After a quick breakfast and biding her parents a good day, she found herself in the lounge, alone, for the last time of the day. When little brat will woke up, her tranquillity will shatter. But at least, she'd have something to do.

She startled as aforementioned little brat suddenly started to cry. Wail, would be a better word, though. Rising, she sighed before exiting the room to give her little brother his breakfast. Well, she would have given him his breakfast if the toddler hadn't somehow slipped out of his room.

A soft knock was heard, and without bothering about the escaped conv- baby, Mai went down to open the door… and was face to face with a seemingly annoyed Zuko.

"Why, good morning Zuko." She nodded, motioning him to enter. The prince strode past her, and then looked at her as there was something bothering him and that something would be her. She waited.

"If you think so. Your parents discussed with my father so now, here I am."

She had a hint as to what her parents might have said to Ozai for him to send his son. Obviously, her mother's marital project for her weren't finished. She let out a sigh.

"So, may I welcome you to my nightmare?" Zuko smirked. But it soon faded when the two teenagers heard a rather loud crashing noise coming from the second lounge. They scurried toward the noise, finding Tom-Tom beside Mai's mother ex-mirror. Mai looked thouroughly annoyed. How was she supposed to explain to her mother how was it broken, since she think of the little spawn of evil as a cute little angel? She felt so tired… It must have shown, since Zuko went and grabbed the resisting toddler to put him back in his room. Mai's mother hadn't given them any instructions regarding how they should baby sit Tom-Tom. Which was quite unreasonable when one considers the fact that baby-sitter #1 was a throwing knife-addict and baby-sitter #2 was a rather frisky firebender.

After locking the door, both teenagers went back to the lounge. She was tired beyond words: it was only 10 am or so and her parents would only come back at 18 pm, if not later. She sat on the sofa, ready for a nap while Zuko was reading.

Everything seemed calm for a while, when Zuko heard a childish near himself. Looking at his side, he jumped backward, surprised as he was to see Tom-Tom by him on the sofa. Doing so, he knocked into Mai and nearly fell over her. The Devil Spawn kept on advancing to ward them, before jumping down the sofa and somehow 'running-creeping' on the carpet right to the kitchen.

Trying not to wake Mai up – because he just knew that the young woman has the sad tendency to throw knives when disturbed – he followed Tom-Tom, smoke fuming from his nostrils as he tried to calm himself down. He'd come here for 'baby-sitting', not 'baby-hunting'.

Coming into the kitchen, he didn't see the toddler on the ground. Looking around, all his senses in alert for any proof of the scourge's passage, he didn't notice something vaguely human up the cupboard. Until said thing let itself fall onto him, knocking him off his feet right onto the slippery ground. He managed to caught himself and the toddler, which gazed at him, gurgling happily.

Soon enough, Zuko let the child down, thoroughly disgusted. It was not for nothing that he hated children. They are so evil, attention-seeking (A/N: That is to say YOU are a child, little Zuzu?)… and pink-cheeked (1). In fact, he hated everything in a baby, from their sheer appearance down to the way adults look at them. Of course, said adults are blinded and thus, can't see just how said children are evil in pampers.

As he was thinking about how he will roast the little creeping thingy, he lost track of Tom-Tom, finding himself alone in the kitchen, kneeling on the floor, looking as if he was going to burst. He heard a shout. It was Mai, seemingly panicked and/or angered beyond anything. In fact, he found her ready to go through the roof, looking at her "brother" trying to fire up the carpet. She caught him, only to have tiny flames coming to life on her clothes. Zuko regretted that there was not some Waterbending Tribe's girl around. He managed to get a hold of the toddler while Mai went and poured water on her fuming clothes. If she was annoyed beforehand, she was no more… Angry, perhaps… Zuko caught sight of her fingers twitching, knowing that she was refraining herself from shooting daggers – literally – at Tom-Tom.

Zuko felt something warm on his right sleeve, along with a smell of fabric burning. Looking down, he saw the child firebending using HIS sleeve as a target. Swearing, he let go of the kid. And obviously, it was a sore mistake…

Not only was Mai looking as if she was going to destroy everything, but also, Tom-Tom was now attacking the curtains. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, he caught the kid, who trashed and squirmed, trying to escape. But while Zuko always failed at catching the Avatar, he wouldn't let go of the Spawn of Evil. Thus, he went to the bathroom, following Mai instructions and dropped him into cold water – which warmed up soon enough, seeing how the toddler was still trying to firebend erratically.

Assuring themselves that there was nothing that could be burnt down anymore beside themselves, Mai tried, with all her might, to explain the little boy that he shouldn't try to do like Daddy and use firebending at home, nor on his sister or Prince Zuko. Said Prince looked exhausted to appear almost dead.

They left the kid here, going back to the lounge, dropping miserably on the sofa, uncaring as to how they'd drop as soon as they don't fall on the ground.

"I hate babies." Muttered Zuko.

"So do I. And be happy not to have to baby sit everyday…" Both teens soon fell asleep, not noticing Tom-Tom, who got out of the bathroom and into the living room, starting to play calmly with his toys.

When Mai's parents came back, they were taken aback by the state of the house. The carpet was slightly burnt at some point, surely enough. But there were no knives planted everywhere, no Tom-Tom locked up while Mai talked with Azula. All in all, it was a good point for Zuko.

They woke the teens up for Zuko to go back to the palace.

"Thank you, Prince Zuko, for having helped Mai with Tom-Tom. I see that everything went well, right?" Zuko wondered for an instant as to what to say before answering.

"Yes, there was no problem at all" he said with a curt nod. He saw Mai looking at him in shock as if he had done something wrong. And he understood… to lat.

"So, is that okay if you come along next time Mai would have to watch on Tom-Tom?" Zuko's eyes widened in shock. He nodded and went away, greeting Mai and her parents as if the whole world had fallen on his shoulder.

As Zuko went back to his routine, still shaken, Mai went back to her Kingdom of Boredom, slightly smiling. So she would have to see Zuko again. Even if it was in THAT context, it was enough to rouse her from her usual numbness.

**THE END**

Thanks for reading!

(1) I'm not responsible for him sidetracking, alright?


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